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Completing the Stress Cycle Instead of Carrying Stress Into Tomorrow
Stress does not always end when the stressful situation is over. Explore what it means to complete the stress cycle, why the body can stay activated, and practical ways to support recovery through movement, breathing, connection, grounding and gentle end-of-day transitions.
Leigh-Anne Brierley
Oct 159 min read


Fight, Flight, Freeze and Fawn: Recognising Your Recovery Survival Responses
There are moments in recovery when our reactions seem to arrive before we have had a chance to think. Somebody’s tone changes and we immediately become defensive. A difficult conversation leaves us wanting to escape. We agree to something we do not want because disappointing another person feels unbearable. We receive an upsetting message and suddenly find ourselves unable to move, speak or decide what to do next. Later, when the intensity has passed, we may look back and won
Leigh-Anne Brierley
Oct 511 min read


The Pause Between Feeling and Acting: Where Recovery Choices Begin
When emotions, cravings or triggers feel overwhelming, the urge to react can seem immediate. Explore practical DBT-informed skills that can help you pause, regulate, check the facts and choose a response that supports your recovery, wellbeing and the life you are building.
Leigh-Anne Brierley
Oct 19 min read


Understanding Your Window of Tolerance in Recovery
Understanding your window of tolerance in recovery can help you recognise when you are becoming activated, overwhelmed or disconnected. Learn to identify your green, amber and red zones and find practical, compassionate ways to return to greater steadiness, connection and choice.
Leigh-Anne Brierley
Sep 2815 min read


Urge Surfing: Learning to Ride a Craving Instead of Fighting It
Cravings can feel urgent, but they do not have to make the decision. Learn how urge surfing can help you notice, understand and ride the wave of a craving while creating space for safer, more supportive choices.
Leigh-Anne Brierley
Sep 109 min read


Managing Cravings in Recovery: A Craving Is Information, Not an Instruction
Cravings can feel urgent, convincing and overwhelming — but they are not commands. Learn how mindfulness, curiosity and practical recovery tools can help you understand what a craving is telling you and create more space between urge and action.
Leigh-Anne Brierley
Sep 810 min read


The Early Warning Signs of Relapse We Often Miss
Relapse often begins long before someone drinks, uses or returns to an addictive behaviour. This post explores the early warning signs we can easily miss — from denial and isolation to slipping routines, resentment and complacency — and how recognising these patterns sooner can give us more time, support and choice in recovery.
Leigh-Anne Brierley
Sep 115 min read


Beyond Willpower: Building Sustainable Recovery
Recovery takes more than determination. Sustainable change is built through structure, supportive systems, healthy habits, connection and practical tools that still work when motivation is low. In this post, we explore how moving beyond willpower can help you build a recovery that is realistic, resilient and designed to last.
Leigh-Anne Brierley
Aug 2813 min read


What Does Sustainable Recovery Look Like in Everyday Life?
When What Does Sustainable Recovery Look Like in Everyday Life? I think we sometimes imagine sustainable recovery as a version of recovery in which we finally become really good at everything. We have a solid morning routine, exercise regularly, eat properly, sleep eight hours a night, attend all the right meetings, meditate, journal, maintain healthy relationships, manage our stress beautifully and remain calm and emotionally regulated regardless of what life throws at us...
Leigh-Anne Brierley
Aug 1811 min read


Recovery is more than Stopping: What are You Actually Building?
Recovery is not only about what you leave behind. It is also about what you begin to build — healthier routines, stronger relationships, greater self-awareness, meaningful goals and a life that feels worth showing up for.
Leigh-Anne Brierley
Aug 1310 min read


WTF!? What the Fifty!?
I can't believe that I have turned 50! I mean where did all that time go!? I remember my 18th birthday vividly...
Leigh-Anne Brierley
Dec 17, 20227 min read
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